Monday, April 19, 2010

Unlike Kirstie Alley - I Promise This Diet Will Stick

As mentioned earlier, I have recently proven that a person can gain weight fairly quickly on a vegan diet. I have gained somewhere between 10-15 pounds since November. I don't want to have to change the title of this blog to Being A Fat Vegan - I can't imagine anyone would want to read that. Alec Baldwin had already proved the theory that a chubby vegan can exist, but I had to try it for myself...

Why?

After almost 4 years of continuous 12 month per year hockey, 2-4 times per week, I'd had enough and started shedding nights. Three weeks ago, my Sunday night hockey ended for the season and my Friday night hockey that would normally go all year round, ended until September because we can't get enough people out. This is great because, come September when hockey starts up again, I should be back in love with playing the game.

Working out and running have been severely reduced. I have many excuses, of course! Weather, health (colds), high amounts of time spent on other projects...

My eating habits have gotten lazy as well. I can't seem to avoid that extra meal at 10 or 11 at night. I've got into eating a lot of processed food that, even though it's vegan, is simply not good. I haven't been preparing my lunches ahead of time so I'm eating fast food often at lunch. I'm also just beginning to drink more water again. I normally drink a ton of water every day, but with drinking more and more green tea while experiencing reduced physical activity, there were days when I wouldn't drink a single drop of plain cold, fresh agua.

What I've Learned

  • Especially over the age of 40, there is no miracle diet (ok, maybe raw veg or fruitarianism...).
  • Timing is everything! I know there's some dispute about when and how often you should eat. What works for me is a small breakfast, small lunch, small dinner and nothing whatsoever after dinner. When I go to bed hungry, I'm not starved in the morning, but I find it so much easier to get out of bed and I have so much more energy than if I ate a late snack or meal.
  • Green Tea is a prince but water is king! Green tea is full of goodness but it also contains caffeine and is a diuretic. Therefore, if you only drink green tea, you will be in a constant state of dehydration.
  • Even 100% whole wheat bread is not for those who want to lose weight! 160 calories for two slices of plain, grocery store whole wheat bread.
  • Vegans can get sick, too. I never had a full blown winter cold. Instead, it just seemed to linger and put me at around 80% for what felt like forever.

What I Plan To Do

I promise that I will not be like any of the celebrities that represent Jenny Craig from time to time. Once I have my physical health back on track, I will not fall back! My personal challenge is to lose 10 lbs in 4 weeks. This is ever so slightly above the recommended 2 pounds per week but I'm not concerned. Actually, deep down, I want to shed 15 pounds in that time period but to announce that on this blog would be just plain reckless!

How Am I Going To Do It?

  • Run every day. Even if it's only 5km, I must become a real runner again.
  • Get up earlier each day to have a proper breakfast.
  • Get up earlier each day to go for a walk to get the blood moving and boost the metabolism.
  • Start each day with a minimum of 16 ounces of water, then keep drinking it all day long.
  • No bread, sugar or processed food.
  • Portion control.
  • Update my progress here to make myself more accountable to this goal.
  • Workout on a regular basis again.

Here's The Details

Current weight as of April 19, 2010: 189 pounds.

Goal weight as of May 17, 2010: 179 pounds (secret goal: 174 pounds!)

Running mileage total: 120 km

9 comments:

  1. I've been following your blog for awhile and enjoying it, just haven't goten around to commenting till now. Check out Dr. John McDougall who has extensive experience in using plant based nutrition to cure all kinds of health problems. One of his current lecture topics is the "fat vegan". You can eliminate animal foods, but if you then rely on high fat foods and processed foods, you won't make much progress. I found out the hard way, good luck to you!

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  2. Wow - just checked out Dr. McDougall's site - what a great resource! I love the adventure travel bit he does, too. Thanks for the info.

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  3. If anyone else is interested, the link to the site is : http://www.drmcdougall.com/index.html

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  4. Thank you for your wonderful efforts

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  5. I wish you good luck to stick till the end! Hopefully you will be thinner and healthier.

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  6. I gained 60 plus pounds being a vegan. I have since added homegrown dairy, eggs and meat back into my diet. I want to share that if I didn't have access to my own animals products (lost the farm or something) I would live on potatoes, coconut oil and avocado and fruit....especially peaches, nectarines and plums. Potatoes and avocados have a protein profile similar to an egg...even more balanced than a brisket. I would avoid "fake" foods at all costs...no imitation cheeses, meats, etc. You CAN lose weight on potatoes IF you chew them well. Digestion starts in the mouth, especially starches. Undigested starch turns to fat with in 20 minutes. It must be broken down into simple sugars to be properly assimilated...and you will feel fuller and satisfied. I am not sure if you will let this post go through, but I thought someone might benefit from what I've learned.

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  7. Thanks for the insight, Jenny. It's been a long time since I've posted but I've kind of reached an equilibrium (no loss/no gain)as far as weight goes.

    It's always great to hear other folks experiences.

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  8. Some of my friends are vegan and they're pretty creative with their meals. Do you have any good recipes that are pretty healthy? If you do, you should enter them into this cooking contest that's coming to Cleveland on September 25-26th..it's the Aetna Healthy Food Fight. You can go to healthyfoodfight.com for more details, but the deadline for Cleveland is September 8th. Oh, and throughout the contest, celebrity cooks will be judging (Bobby Flay, Sunny Anderson, Sara Moulton, or Cat Cora). Good luck if you decide to enter and if not, please keep posting! :)

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